The Opium Wars

The Opium wars were basically a war against the British and China. It was a war so that British would be able to sell it's Opium to the people of China. This all began when foreigners from around the world wanted China to began trading with them. The Chinese believed that they already had everything they needed. The Chinese people believed they were self-sufficient. They produced their own products for their own people. They didn't need any other goods from foreign countries. When the British finally persuaded the Chinese emperor to trade, the British were losing goods then actually making goods. The Chinese emperor only agreed with certain terms like the trade for a lot more silver for a lot less tea. The British wanted this tea from China, but they had to make a sacrifice in silver for this trade. Britain soon began getting short in silver so they began thinking for another product to sell. That product was opium, this was a kind of drug like heroin which came from the poppy plant. The British began smuggling the drug into China for the trade of tea.
The Chinese emperor began to realize a certain changes in China. Their were problems in the economy. The people of China became addicted to this drug. Farmers slacked in producing food and the military began corrupting. The emperor finally decided to do something so he send a letter to Queen Victoria to tell her to stop selling Opium in China even the fact that opium is illegal in Britain. The letter never arrived to Queen Victoria. The British did not listen, so China began burning all the opium that the British were trying to sell. The British reacted by declaring war on China. The British had more advance technology in battle warfare. China had no match against Britain' s steamboat and tactical battle forces. So China lost the war to Britain. They both signed a treaty called the Treat of Nanking. Britain was allowed control over Hong Kong for trading. America and the French also wanted the same trade rights like Britain. They gained the same rights as Britain with the Treaty of Tienstin. In another Opium war between the French and the Britain against China; China once again lost. After this lost, China's ports were opened to all foreigners to trade.

"The White Man's Burden"

The white man's burden is a load or a responsibility that the white people have to do or accomplish. It's the job of the white man to accomplish conquering and ruling other countries or lands. An example would be the burden of the U.S. trying to take over and control of the Philippines. This began when America went into the Spanish-American war in 1898. The U.S. fought the Philippines in a war and won and eventually began ruling the Philippines.
I agree with the analyzes of the poem "The White Man's Burden" for many reasons. One reason, would be that the poem describes how white people try to take over countries or to rule other countries for their needs. The poem describes why the white people try to rule other countries.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go, bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait, in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil and half child.

Rudyard Kipling, "The White Man's Burden" published in McClure's Magazine, Feb. 1899

This 8 lines from the first of seven stanza alone describes lot of the white man's burden. It tells how the white people go to war and how the enemies are when captured. It tells how the white people want the enemies to send their troops for war.
Even though the poem was written in 1899 about the U.S. Imperialism over the Philippines, the U.S. still today is imperialistic a hundred years later. We are still living the "White Man's Burden" today for the fact that are armies are still in Iraq. The war of Iraq is over and still American army troops still patrol the country of Iraq. Even though we have won, America is trying to change something about Iraq. Their trying to change Iraq's government. Their trying to change Iraq into a Democratic country. Event thought their are many people in Iraq who are opposing this new government or who just don't want American troops in their country we still stay and still fight to change the government.

"The Scramble for Africa"

Since Europeans believed they were the best race in the world they believed that they could take over any country they wanted to. The continent of Africa was under the control of Europe the greatest. The scramble for Africa was the ruling of areas of Africa by European nations. It was a time of imperialism of Europe ruling over Africa. Europe's imperialism over Africa happened between 1880 and 1910. There were many European nations that controlled areas of Africa. Major European nation's that had control of areas in Africa were France, Britain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Spain. They would take control and rule these areas for the natural resources found in these area since Africa was rich in resources. They would use these natural resources to make new manufacture goods for the people of Europe and also to sell to the people of Africa. They would also send these new resources back to Europe to become goods for the people. Theses nations would also take control of the areas because the more land they controlled the more power they had. They would take control of these areas so that other nations of Europe wouldn't.European nations were able to take over Africa easily because of many reasons. Europe not only had their technological advantage but also there persuading on tribes of Africa to take control of their lands. Some tribes gave up their land by signing treaties which they had no idea what it said. Other tribes gave their land to nations of Europe so that other tribes of Europe wouldn't take over by force. The tribes also gave up their area's to the nations so that the Europeans could protect the tribe of that area from other tribes. The scramble for Africa had a negative affect towards the people of Africa. Tribes were divided because of the boundaries that the European nations did. They went through a phase of tribalism. The tribes would go to war with each other because they would be in the same boundaries and not like each other.

Film Lesson: "Mountains of the Moon"

Throughout the film the Europeans had many difficulties through traveling and exploring Africa. They face the harsh heat from the sun. They faced the danger of the environment such as the dangerous surface of the ground and animals who inhabited the area. Animals such as lions were a great danger to the Europeans in their travels. Also bugs were dangerous if they did not put up their mosquito nets when going to bed. Besides the fact that the animals played a threat to the exploring but the native people of Africa also were a danger to the European explores. The explorers came in contact with the native African people a couple of time. When the explorers and the Native people had come in contact they would go in fights, killing each other or socializing and exchanging gifts.
It's strange the fact that the source of the Nile River which is the 3rd largest lake in the world is called Lake Victoria. Even thought the Lake is in Africa it is named after queen Victoria of Europe. The source was no part of Europe and still it was named after queen Victoria because the modern world believed that they discovered it even through it was inhabited by the native people of the Nile. Till this day Lake Victoria is still called Lake Victoria event thought the Europeans don't own it anymore.
In the end it all mattered on who had the technological advantage. The ones with the technological advantage were the Europeans. They had weapons such as guns which the African people have never seen before. Soon after the Europeans were able to conquer Africa because of Imperialism. They had more then enough technology to takeover Africa.

The Meigi Restoration of Japan

Japan, is an archipelago due to the fact that it's made up of many islands. Before 1853, Japan was a country of isolation. This meant that Japan had no contact or tried to make any contact with other countries outside of Japan. They believed that they were superior to any other race in the world. What they did not know was that they were behind everyone in technology. It took over two decade for Japan to finally stop the isolation of their country.
In 1853, the U.S. and Japan finally signed a trading treaty. It wasn't easy at first but U.S. Commendore Matthew Perry took steamships to Japan in order for the Japanese to open their ports for trading. The Japanese were shocked of the technology that the Americans had. They were shocked to see that the Americans had technology such as steam to power their ships. They were also shocked to see the rifles and cannons that the Americans had. The U.S. believed that the Japanese ports would be great for American ships to stop and reload in food, water, and coal.
During the Meigi Era many new reformations had taken place. Japan overthrew the whole feudalism system. In 1868, Emperor Mutsushito took back his thrown. He believed that the only way to be equal in economic and political ways of the West was to adopt new ways. Many scholars were sent to the West. They were sent to learn as much from the West and bring back what they had learn. The Japanese began to modernize by adopting the ideas of industrialization. They began to build railroads for the use transportation. They began to build factories to produce goods for trading. They caught up in the Industrialization ways in less then 50 years.

Karl Marx and Communism

Communism is a way of the government in which the state makes all goods equally shared by the people. This idea of government goes way back to the time of Karl Marx who was the first to come up with these ideas and the form of government. Karl Marx believed that the whole world should run under communism. He came up with the idea of Communism so the whole world can change. He believed that their should'nt be social classes were some people owned lands or had the most money. He visioned that all the people should all be the same. All the people would be the same in political rights, money wise, and social wise. No one would be different, no one would stand out. Marx wanted communism to take over the world for many reasons. He visioned his time period to be the same as the time of Fuedilasm. He viewed that in the time of the Industrial Revolution the people who were in higher social classes had the power over the people in low social class. He believed that it wasn't fair for many workers to keep struggle day by day to make little money while the factory owners & business men just stood back and waited for the money to get to them. He viewed the higher social class "Bourgoeisie" was in controll of everything. That class was made up of the factory owners, business men, and merchants. This class had all the money and power. The low social class was the Proltariat which was made up of workers. These workers worked in factories day and night makeing little money for themeselves but a lot of money for the factory owners. This is how Karl Marx viewed his time period. He believed that the people with money & power were the "bad guys" and the people with no power and very little money were the "good guys".

Karl Marx and the Industrial Revolution

Karl Marx felt that the Industrial Revolution was bad for mankind. He believe that the world was heading back to a world of feudalism. He was viewing that people who had the most money had the most power so social class were divided into two. These divided classes were the Bourgoeisie's and the Proletariat's. People who had power were under the Bourgoeisie's class which were factory owners, merchants, and business men. The people with little money basicly had no power at all. So the workers with little amount of money were under the Proletariat class which were factory workers. He viewed the world as a feudalism because of the fact that the higher class owned everything. He also viewed that workers would sell themeselves to work in factories for life to makemoney. He believed that the rich people would continue getting richer and the poorer people would just continue getting poorer.
Marx believed something had to change for the sake of mankind. He believed that their should'nt be social classes were some people owned lands or had the most money. He believed that everyone should all make the same amount of money, own the same amount of land, etc. He began to tell many workers to revolt against the Bourgoeisie's class. This all lead Marx to come up with the idea of Communism. He came up with the idea of Communism so the whole world can change. So that in the world no one would be different in political, social, and income wise. Even though he visioned all these ideas, his ideas never really hit reality.

Nationalism and The Creation of Italy

Nationalism is having honor or pride of your country. It's like if you live in America you show pride by putting flags up and and also you can die for your country by joining the military.I believe that I am nationalistic when I celebrate the 4th of July. I'm being nationalistic becuase I care and celebrate for what the 4th of July stands for. We celebrate the date of 4th of July because that's the day which America gained it's independence from the british.
The unification of Italy is a perfect example of how nationalism brought it to be what it is now, Italy. Before Italy was fully claimed as Italy, it first had to be let go by the Spanish Bourbon Family Empire and the Austrian Empire. Italy and other small states were uinder the control of these empires. Then an Italian man named Camillo di Cavour believed that the only way to win back Italy is to join forces with the French Emporer Napoleon the third. After they had won back the northern part of Italy, Camillo di Cavour joined forces with Sardinia & France to take Italy completly back from the two empires.These leaders helped bring Italy together. The people of Italy were tired or the other rules they had to obey from the empire. So by joining together as a nation they were able to stand up to the empire.

Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar was known throughout South America as the South Liberator. He helped his country of Venezuela and other countries win their freedom from the powers of Europe. His life of being a liberator all started when Spain empire gained control of many countries of South America. Countries such as Ecuador, Colombia, and etc. were all controled by Spain. The Spain Empire was inn control by Napoleon's brother which meant that South America was controled by the Europeans.
After studying the beliefs of philosophers such as John Locke and etc in Europe. He began to realize that South America was suffering under the control of Spain. Simon had learned how and why did the French revolt in order to gain their freedom. He was then traveling back to his country. Before returning back home from Europe he made a stop in the United States. He had learned that the United States had also revolted against the British in order to win their Independence. So when Simon finally came back to Venezuela he knew it was time for South America to do something like the French and American's did in order to win their Freedom. Simon began to build up armies of citizens who also wanted to gain their freedom. Even thought he had lost many battles he began to build a reputation for himself. The people began to believe that he was the leader of them Independence movement. Even thought he kept losing battles he continued. He kept going on and on until he finally won the freedom of his home country of Venezuela in the year of 1821. He helped many other countries when their freedom from Spain. He even had a country named after him which Bolivia.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

Maximilien Robespierre was one of the leaders during the French Revolution. He was born on May 6th of the year 1758.He was one of the many great leaders during his time. Being a leader in the French Revolution meant that he was part of the public safety committee of France. He disagreed on the code of absolute monarchy over France. Even though they were able to overthrow King Louis XVI, France still did not obtain their freedom right away. It took many more years to come for them to obtain their freedom. France had finally stopped France from being a monarchy. The Revolution the began to spread. there were many rivals against the revolution. They threaten France by telling them to let free King Louis XVI or they would invade France. They had to go through a time period call the Reign of Terror. After the government of France stop being an absolute monarchy Robespierre took over France. He took over France like a dictator. He wanted to get ride of the idea of France's government from being an absolute monarchy.

Robespierre was important during the Reign of Terror. After the government of France stop being an absolute monarchy Robespierre took over France. He took over France like a dictator. He wanted to get ride of the idea of France's government from ever being an absolute monarchy. During the Reign of Terror he was arrested and executed in 1784 because the committee of public safety felt that he was trying to take over so they stood up to him. He was executed for his beliefs of France not being an absolute monarchy. The Reign of Terror was a period during the French Revolution which was harsh for many French people. The terror began on September 5, 1793 and lasted 10 months till July 1794. Thousand of people were killed over this time period. They were all executed by the same way King Louis XVI was which was by the guillotine. Thousands of people's heads were all cut off.About 18,500 to 40,000 people died during the Reign of Terror.

French Revolution : Social Causes

The French Revolution which took place in 1789 to 1799 was just like the American Revolution. The people with less or no political power revolted on those with greater political power. France's government was not being fair to the French peasants. The peasants were living in the time of an absolute monarchy. The peasants were charged high taxes when crops did not grow. They had to pay the government more then half of their profits that they have made. They peasants were treated all unfair. King Louis XVI did not care what he was doing to his people. He was a selfish king who only cared about himself. He had power over everything. In order for the French to gain political power they had to rise up to King Louis XVI. The peasants did they went and took over the Bastille on July 14 1789. Later that year that year the peasants marched to Versailles where the King Louis XVI and his wife were at and brought them to Paris. At one point the king try to flee Paris but could not. The king and his wife were later executed. The king and his wife heads were cut off by the guillotine. After that the peasants were allowed to have their freedom they wanted and to have political power over who gets to run the government. So July 14 is celebrated in France like we celebrate the 4th of July in America.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

During the 1500's people were debating over to solar system theories. One theory was that the earth was the center of all planets including the sun which is called the geocentric theory. Another theory was that the sun was the the center of all planets, this theory was called the heliocentric theory. The heliocentric theory was a theory made by Nicolaus Copernicus. He was born in the year 1473 till 1543. Copernicus mad a model of the sun being the center of the earth and all the other planets.




The trial of Galileo is a trial from the RCC against the belief of a man named Galileo Galilei. Galileo was an Italian scientist who was born on February 15, 1564. He invented one of the first telescope which was very useful to him. The trial of Galileo is about a man useful to him. With the telescope he was able to make observations of the planets. His observations changed the whole teachings of the Roman Catholic Church about the solar system. He discovered many new things about the other planets such as which planets had moons and he study our own moon. But his teaching and beliefs went against the Roman Catholic's teachings. The church told Galileo to take back all his beliefs but he refused. After refusing they put Galileo to trial and sentence him to have house arrest for the rest of his life. After many years of house arrest he later died at the age of seventy-seven. When he died, he died defending his theory and also died with the end of the Italian Renaissance. His theory was not later proven many years later by both science and the RCC.

Scientific Revolution : Scientific Method

During the Scientific Revolution, science was beginning to be more interesting to the Europeans. Interested in science the Greek philosopher Aristotle came up with ideas for the scientific method. With this method the European scientist would be able to ask a question and take it into a process of certain questions. They would first attempt to make a hypothesis. They would later take their problem and experiment with it to find their answer. After experimenting they would see if there hypothesis was correct to their final outcome or incorrect. Many other people were important in the thinking of the scientific revolution. Men such as an English writer by the name of Francis Bacon who believed that all scientist should be able to get an answer to any giving problem by experimenting and observing. Another man by the name of Rene Descartes who was a French mathematician also influenced the scientific method. The scientific revolution was important for the Europeans and the the people after them because till this day scientist still use the scientific revolution.

Evolution vs. Creation

The evolution theory of Natural Selection was based on the theory that one man came to find. He was Charles Darwin. He believed that every living cell all had one common ancestor. He believed the organisms who's trait changed in the way they look or if they had extra features were to breed more and pass their traits to future generations. Those species who's traits did not change all eventually died out. Even though there is proof of this theory, there are still those who believe in the creation theory.


The theory of creation is believed by many people. Many people believed that the living organisms were all created at one point. That the theory has to do with god. They believe that God just made every living cell on Earth. This theory is believed by many priest and churches. The theory is read and told by priest through the reading of the bible. The theory of creation is being debated against the theory of evolution.


There are those who believe that god mad everyone and those who believe that everyone evolved from a common ancestor. The belief of evolution is taught is certain area such as public schools. The belief of the creation is taught in churches.